# Cubeb (Piper cubeba)

*Tailed pepper; *piper caudatum**

**Known today as.** *Piper cubeba*, a Javanese pepper whose berries keep a little stalk, like a tail.

Kind: Plant

## What was it used for?

In Arab and medieval medicine, a warming spice for the stomach and the voice; in the nineteenth century, for gonorrhoea and, smoked in cigarettes, for asthma.

## What does modern science say?

No proven use; a spice again in some cooking.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **cubebin**: a lignan
- **sabinene**: 
- **cubebol**: 
- **piperine**: small amounts

**Mechanism.** The oil is excreted by the kidney and the lungs, where it is mildly antiseptic, which is why it was given for gonorrhoea and bronchitis before antibiotics; the effect on the gonococcus was slight.

**Dose.** Large doses irritate the urinary tract; otherwise safe.

**Standing.** Dropped from the pharmacopoeias in the twentieth century; cubebin is studied in the laboratory for anti-inflammatory and antiparasitic actions.

## What lore surrounds it?

Cubeb cigarettes were sold for catarrh and asthma into the twentieth century.

## Sources

- Pomet, P. (1694). *Histoire générale des drogues* (English, *A Compleat History of Druggs*, 1712).
- Grieve, M. (1931). *A Modern Herbal*, “Cubebs.”
- Parreira, R. L. T., et al. (2019). “Evaluation of lignans from *Piper cubeba* against *Schistosoma mansoni* adult worms.” *Chemistry and Biodiversity* 16.
- Wichtl, M. (2004). *Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals*, 3rd ed., “Cubebae fructus.”

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*Cubeb.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-09-30. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cubeb

Historical description, not medical advice.